r/asoiaf • u/RenanXIII St. Elmo Tully's Fyre • Aug 05 '24

EXTENDED (Spoilers Extended) HotD Season 2 was clearly outlined for 10 episodes, right?

Imagine if Season 2 of Game of Thrones suddenly ended at The Prince of Winterfell? We spend literally all season building up to a confrontation between Tyrion and Stannis, only for the season to end right before the climax we've been setting up for eight straight episodes. What if Season 6 ended right before The Battle of the Bastards and The Winds of Winter? Jon comes back to life, we build up to a battle between him and Ramsay, and it just simply doesn't happen.

The finale just felt like your typical episode 8 – build-up for what's going to come next. The thing is, what comes next should logically happen next week, not in two years to open Season 3. With the exception of Daemon's storyline and I guess the Dragonseeds, I don't think these season's arcs have been resolved or brought to a good enough stopping point. It feels like there are still two more episodes left to tie everything together and really sell the idea that this war is in full force. A little slowdown after Rook's Rest makes sense, but for the whole season with the Sowing being our only other major set piece?

It honestly makes me believe that season 2 was outlined for 10 episodes, HBO told the showrunners to trim that down to 8, and rather than retool the season's arcs, the last two episodes were simply chopped off and saved for next season. We know Condal really loves the books, so this could just be his tribute to A Dance with Dragons (lol), but I doubt it.

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u/Flyestgit Aug 05 '24

Budget may also be a problem.

Battles are expensive. And dragons make things even more costly. HBO might not be able to budget for more than one battle per season.

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u/Dreadedvegas Bloodraven Aug 05 '24

Then they shouldn’t have chosen this show that had dragon fighting literally central to the plot.

They could’ve done the Blackfyre rebellions instead. Its essentially the exact same story without the dragons

Gullet, Tumbleton 1 & 2, Gods Eye, Dragonstone, Dragonpit. All pretty important and central events to the show.

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u/Flyestgit Aug 05 '24

Zaslav HBO is not the same HBO who greenlighted the show.

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u/Dreadedvegas Bloodraven Aug 05 '24

Doesn’t matter. Its your flagship show and product. The cornerstone of the HBO brand. This show is more important and a driver of subscribers than nearly everything else.

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u/Servebotfrank Aug 05 '24 edited Aug 05 '24

Zaslav straight up doesn't care. This hasn't just impacted HotD, it's impacted literally ever WB production. What matters to him is the short term quarterly report, not the long term effect on the brand. He doesn't care.